Santander "under funding" charge

phil7445

I recently changed my bank account from Santander to Halifax (to get the £5 a month interest). I kept the Santander account empty and didn't close it as I have a fair amount of savings with them.

I got a notification of a £5 under funding charge on my latest bank statement. I phoned them up to complain, as even if this is in their terms and conditions, it's very bad customer service not to warn the customer in order to avoid the charge, but they would not deal with it on the phone saying I had to visit my branch. I can't do this during the week as I work and I don't want to queue for ages on a Saturday so I sent a secure online message complaining.

I am waiting to hear back from them but ultimately if they won't back down they will lose out as I have a fair amount of savings with them which I will move elsewhere. Has anyone else been charged this? Did you complain and get it reversed?

Nine_Lives

You likely wont queue for ages if you get down there for opening time on a Saturday. Lay in bed & turn up 30 minutes before closing time & you'll be waiting a while.

StrongWork

phil7445 wrote: »

I recently changed my bank account from Santander to Halifax (to get the £5 a month interest). I kept the Santander account empty and didn't close it as I have a fair amount of savings with them.

I got a notification of a £5 under funding charge on my latest bank statement. I phoned them up to complain, as even if this is in their terms and conditions, it's very bad customer service not to warn the customer in order to avoid the charge

I disagree. If it was made clear in the t&cs, surely that's just tough (imvho)?

I'd accept it was my mistake, pay the fiver and move on (close the account or transfer the amount of cash required to avoid the charge next month).

phil7445

Nine_Lives wrote: »

You likely wont queue for ages if you get down there for opening time on a Saturday. Lay in bed & turn up 30 minutes before closing time & you'll be waiting a while.

I enjoy a lie in at the weekends! ;-)

ses6jwg

It's in the terms and conditions.

Call 0845 600 6014 which is the complaints line. They might refund it as a gesture of goodwill.

You need to close the account or have it transferred to an everyday current account.

rb10

phil7445 wrote: »

even if this is in their terms and conditions, it's very bad customer service not to warn the customer in order to avoid the charge

They do warn you, it's in the Interest Rates and Fees leaflet which you will have been sent when you opened the account (and possibly more recently as well, depending on how long you've held it).

There's no reason why you should have an exception made, just because you either didn't read the leaflet, or forgot to check it.

phil7445 wrote: »

ultimately if they won't back down they will lose out as I have a fair amount of savings with them which I will move elsewhere.

Either:

1) Your savings are paying a competitive rate, in which case you are probably doing them a favour by withdrawing them (interest on headline rate products is a major expense for banks); or

2) Your savings are paying a poor rate, in which case why haven't you moved them already?